Cheese, beer and brats are an undeniably tasty trio, but there’s more to Milwaukee’s food scene than these well-known staples.
Theresa Nemetz has made it her business to introduce visitors to a wide range of the city’s edible offerings — and more. The owner of Milwaukee Food and City Tours arranges year-round walking and bus excursions that spotlight historic businesses, ethnic influences and neighborhoods as well as the region’s vast pantry. She offers more than a dozen itineraries, from Churches & Chocolates to Cedarburg Sweets & Treats; 800-979-3370, www.milwaukeefoodtours.com.
That’s just one way to sample Milwaukee’s food and drink. Here’s a menu of classes, factory tours and venues that will give you something to chew on next time you dip into Cream City:
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Braise Restaurant and Culinary School
Chef Dave Swanson usually tells students to bring an empty container to 90-minute classes at his restaurant that focuses on locally sourced ingredients from Wisconsin farmers and artisan producers. Indian cuisine, Mexican street food and stocks and sauces are some of the subjects studied in the $65 sessions that fill fast in the ethnically diverse Walker’s Point neighborhood; 414-212-8843, www.braiselocalfood.com.
At Braise, you take home leftovers. Elsewhere, you stay put while taking flight. These independently owned businesses whet the appetite by showing off their specialties in small quantities.
Palermo’s Pizza
An Italian couple who immigrated to the United States and settled in Milwaukee in the 1950s went on to found this producer of frozen pizzas. Visitors can get an up-close look at the process with a factory tour or take a more hands-on approach with a pizza-making lesson that has you tossing dough and landing your own 11-inch wood-fired pie; 414-455-0383, www.palermospizza.com.
Indulgence Chocolatiers
Handcrafted chocolate treats get matched with wine, beer and cheese on the seasonally changing menu at Indulgence’s Walker’s Point Shop & Chocolate Pairing Bar, where the cost of pairing classes generally ranges from $25 to $30; 414-223-0123, www.indulgencechocolatiers.com.
Purple Door Ice Cream
Twenty of the urban ice cream maker’s nearly 200 flavors are available by the scoop daily, and a flight of four “kiddie scoops” (2-ounce portions) costs $6. The creamy brandy old fashioned is a nod to Wisconsin’s unofficial cocktail. More unexpected is the garam masala. Sale proceeds help the homeless; 414-988-2521, www.purpledooricecream.com.
Great Lakes Distillery
A $7 tour of the small-batch distiller ends with a six-spirit flight, each one-quarter of an ounce. In the sextet are three gold-medal winners: a whiskey, citrus-honey vodka and herbal-style absinthe made from a 19th-century recipe that includes anise, fennel and grand wormwood. Look for the distillery and tasting room bar in a converted tannery; 414-431-8683, www.greatlakesdistillery.com.
Stone Creek Coffee
Free factory tours at noon Sunday include tastings of espresso and a couple of single-origin coffees. A barista leads the monthly “comparative tasting course,” which involves up to a dozen brews. It all happens in an 1888 Cream City brick building across from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station where Amtrak and regional buses stop; 414-270-1008, www.stonecreekcoffee.com.
Watts Tea Room
A miniature chicken potpie made from a century-old recipe always anchors the $13.95 soup sampler in this restaurant above a shop that began selling fine china, crystal and silverware in 1870. Or inhale an array of finger sandwiches and pastries during afternoon tea, $18.95; 414-290-5700, www.wattsteashop.com.
Classy Girl Cupcakes
The typical cupcake weighs in around 4 ounces at this hot-pink shop on Cathedral Square between Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee River. Equally decorative and decadent are 2-ounce cheesecakes for $2, so build your own flight from a dozen-plus flavors; 414-270-1877, www.classygirlcupcakes.com.
Milwaukee Brat House
You’ll find fat links of bratwurst, Polish, Italian and Hungarian sausage on the $13.95 sausage sampler, plus a pretzel roll, sauerkraut, sauteed mushrooms, onions and roasted red peppers. Most of the meat comes from Usinger’s, a sausage maker since 1880, and the outlet shop is conveniently located across the street; 414-273-8709, www.milwaukeebrathouse.com.
Uber Tap Room and Cheese Bar
This is the spot to pair the state’s famed cheese with a selection of more than 36 beers on tap in an inviting, cafe-style setting. The menu is stocked with a wide selection of the store’s 175 cheeses made only in Wisconsin; 414-755-2424, www.ubertaproom.com.
Sprecher Brewing Co.
This brewer of both beer and soda offers a $5 tour that ends with product samplings, which either means four tickets for beer products or unlimited swigs of up to nine kinds of soda, from root beer to Ravin’ Red, a cherry-cranberry-honey-ginseng mix; 414-964-2739, www.sprecherbrewery.com.
Mary Bergin is a freelance reporter.
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